Riots in Edinburgh & Bombs in London

Europe ~ United Kingdom ~ Scotland ~ Edinburgh

It’s been an interesting week in Edinburgh, I’ve participated in my first big protest (the one that was on Saturday, see the previous post…) and I’ve watched a number of more violent protests – or riots if you will. On Monday, anarchists turned the city into mayhem, causing police to come out in their hundreds. The riot police were particularily worrying – they came out with their sheilds and batons, forming a line to block off protesters. We were blocked in the Princes Street Gardens for several hours, whilst police tried to defuse the situation. Some of the more interesting protesters included a giant bunny rabbit who tried to feed the police horses carrots (I talked to him for a while, ashamed to admit he was Australian), a completely naked guy running around, many many clowns and a heap of anarchists with black bandanas over their mouths and noses. The protesters with their faces covered were by far the scariest, not something you expect to experience, being surrounded by black-bandana’d protesters. The police dogs were impressive, very scary looking. I didn’t see them actually being used, they were just brought out and all the protesters backed off immediently. They had a pretty terrifying bark… Not too many injuries, it was reported that there were 21 people admitted to hospital, and 90 people arrested. Since then there have been several protests, a couple more on Monday, some on Wednesday. Of course I’ve been down there in the middle of it all, with a couple of others from the hostel.

Posing in front of the police

Posing in front of the police

This past week, Tash, Elysha, Mike and I also went on a ghost tour. Very exciting, we were lead down to the underground vaults by our guide. Apparently Edinburgh is full of these underground vaults, in the good days they were used as wine cellers and cobblers basements. Soon after using them as storage rooms, it was discovered that, 3 days after raining in Princes Street, the rain would seep through to the vaults. Consequently, they were used as housing for the poor, as many as 15 families would cram into a room. The vaults that we saw were owned by the tour company, there are many more that have been turned into basements, nightclubs, music rehersal areas and bars. Our guide walked us through the vaults, explaining ‘spirits’ that they know to lurk in the particular rooms. After the vaults we concluded the tour at midnight, in the Cannongate Graveyard. I didn’t get any ‘ghostie’ pictures, but did get some photos that have ‘orbs’ in them. Who knows?

Telling spooky stories at Cannongate Graveyard

Telling spooky stories at Cannongate Graveyard

Wow, just got woken up this morning to a text message from Laura, saying that bombs had gone off in London and she was just checking that I was ok. I started to write back, saying that she was wrong, nothing had happened or I’d know, when Ryan came racing into our room, yelling at us to get up and come watch the news – 6 bombs have gone off in central London. Since then another bomb has gone off, all have involved the transport system – busses, tubes and stations. Kind of scary. We’re not sure if it’s to do with the Olympics (London has just been named the winner of the 2012 Olympics) or G8, or even something else. A good number of London Police are up in Edinburgh dealing with the G8, I’ve just heard that they’ve headed back to London to help out. I’m still crossing my fingers and hoping that mum will still get through – she has to fly through Heathrow to get here today, not sure how the airports will be affected. We’ve had two bomb scares in Edinburgh since the attacks – one on a bus, where the police did a ‘controlled explosion’, and another suspicious package around the corner from the hostel. Both were reported as just suspicious packages and nothing more, so we should be fine.
Take care everyone xo Bobs

Marching the streets of Edinburgh

Europe ~ United Kingdom ~ Scotland ~ Edinburgh

Well, its been a hell of a week, and its only just beginning! As I’m sure everyone’s aware, the G8 summit is being held in Edinburgh this week, and as a result, the city is FULL of people ready to protest. Everyday more and more people arrive at the hostel with backpacks, looking for a bed. Everywhere is full, it seems many people are just camping out on the sides of the streets. People at our hostel are making money by ‘selling’ their beds, and sleeping in the tv room for a night (not me, I need a good nights sleep in a bed, otherwise WATCH OUT!!!). Elysha, Nick and I joined the protest on Saturday morning, it was great. Really uplifting, everyone was in a good mood, we had bongo drums and guitars accompanying us the whole time. More people than were expected showed up, they think there were about 200,000 people marching. Protesters were asked to wear white, so we could form a giant white band around the city. However, I’m a backpacker, and all good backpackers stay away from white clothing – it gets dirty way too easily. I managed to rustle up a white rain jacket though, so I was set. The march started and ended at the meadows, the sports area. People were everywhere, the crowd marching was generally a younger one, lots and lots of young families with children in tow.

The march went off without a hitch, there was one slight disturbance when some masked teenagers caused some trouble in a bar, police took them in but didn’t charge them. Of the 200,000, only one person was charged, with drug possession. Since Saturday there’s been a few more marches, theres one on right now, sounds like it’s a fair bit more violent – its a protest by an anarchist groups dissent, there have been police riot vans screaming along Princes street all morning, and I can hear about 3 helicopters hanging around outside. Apparently, police have barricaded a large group of protestors on princess street in front of the castle, with helicopters floating low above them, and a heap of police everywhere. Sounds exciting, I might go down soon and see whats happening.

The lead up to the G8 has been fun to watch. Alot of the shops boarded up their windows – Interestingly, McDonald’s, Burger King and Starbucks didn’t bother – although they do have a heap more security on. And they seem to have their own contingency of police hanging around. We were watching one of the marches yesterday, one of the guys suggested throwing a McD’s drink in amongst the protestors, to see how much trouble it would cause. We are all a bit put out that whilst the newsagent has boarded up his shop, McD’s is getting away without it, we want to see DAMAGE!!!

Boarding up shops in Edinburgh

Boarding up shops in Edinburgh

Apart from the G8, not much has been happening. I’ve been racing around trying to find accommodation for mum, she’s arriving next week. Elysha, Tash and I were discussing the possibility of her hotel having a bathtub, and ended up basically drooling with the prospect of having a bath – the things you miss when you’re traveling! I went to one of the museums in town last week, the People’s Story. Was really interesting, full of quotes from older generations, about what Edinburgh used to be way back when. Good fun. We’re talking about going on a ghost tour tonight, should be fun. Hopefully not too many protesters about. Last night we went out (normal Sunday occurrence). Expected lots of people to be out drinking, considering how many people are in town at the moment, but there was hardly anyone out, everyone’s too scared in case trouble starts…

Happy Canada day and 4th of July all…
xoxo ~*~Bobbi~*~

Marching along The Mound, Edinburgh

Marching along The Mound, Edinburgh